Chapter 19
Cassandra barely spoke throughout the entire process. Ryan did all the talking with the staff.
The only time she spoke was when the staff asked if she had thought through her decision to divorce. She gave a firm nod. “Yes.”
As they walked out, Ryan said, “That wraps up the first stage. Once the 30–day cooling–off period is over, I’ll contact you to finalize the divorce.”
Cassandra nodded.
Ryan teased her with a smile. “Are you sure you’re ready to divorce Cameron? After this, you probably won’t find anyone with better qualifications.”
Cassandra shot back immediately, “Attorney Scott, if you provoke me again, I’ll rip up the documents right
away.”
“No, don’t,” Ryan said quickly. “As long as you’re sure of your decision. I’m just worried that if Cameron treats you well again, you’ll hesitate to walk away.”
Hesitate? In life, even if something was hard to let go of, sometimes, you just had to.
“By the way, what’s your plan after the divorce?” he asked.
“Get a job.”
Cassandra had majored in hotel management in college, but after marrying Cameron, he never supported the idea of her working.
He used to say, “Even if you’re a manager, you’ll still be in the service industry. You’ll be bowing and scraping for guests. Cassie, you don’t need to put up with that.”
Looking back now, she realized how wrong she had been. Being blindly in love had really cost her more
than she knew.
Daisy had just finished filming and would spend the next few days resting at home. After everything was done, Cassandra didn’t feel like going home, so she decided to crash at Daisy’s place for a while.
The moment Daisy heard she was looking for a job, she lit up. “Why don’t you become my agent? With the two of us working together, we’d be unstoppable!”
Cassandra didn’t share her enthusiasm. “I don’t know anything about your industry. I’d rather not mess
with something I’m not equipped for. I just want to stick to what I studied.”
“You want to go into hotels?”
“Yeah,” Cassandra said. “My parents paid for my education. I want to actually use what I learned. And…
you know what happened to my family. Sooner or later, I’m taking back the hotel that belonged to my
father.”
Her father, Robert Blake, had always been in the hotel industry. Growing up, she had lived quite comfortably. But later on, a few so–called close friends set him up and drained away nearly everything he had earned in his lifetime.
After that, debt collectors started showing up at their door every day, acting aggressively and making threats. The family could hardly live their lives.
With no other choice, Robert was forced to sell the hotel at a cheap price. Not long after, he ended up in
prison.
Cassandra only found out much later that the hotel ended up in the hands of those “friends“. The whole scheme had been a setup to steal Robert’s business.
Daisy suddenly smacked her forehead. “Right! My next shoot is in Stokelle, and the crew booked me a room at the Westwood Hotel. Why don’t you try applying there? If you land the job, I’ll book the presidential suite for three years. You won’t even have to worry about your performance reviews. I’ve got
you!”
Cassandra knew about Westwood Hotel. It was a luxury hotel brand under Halden Group, located in the heart of Stokelle’s business district. Their guests consisted of high–society elites, celebrities, and tycoons. Most of the guests were either wealthy or powerful.
Westwood Hotel had once tried to acquire Robert’s hotel, and Robert had actually been open to the offer. But in the end, the acquisition was called off due to the unexpected incident.
“I heard that the current owner of Westwood Hotel is the youngest son of the previous one. He’s incredibly mysterious, and almost no one has ever seen him,” Daisy said.
Cassandra first went to a job site and submitted her resume for the housekeeping manager position.
The more mysterious the owner, the better. As long as the owner had no connection to Cameron, she’d
be fine.
Stokelle was far enough. With that kind of distance between them, Cameron couldn’t possibly reach her.
Cassandra figured it’d take a few days to hear back, but that same night, she got a call from Westwood Hotel’s HR department.
“Hello, Ms. Blake. We’ve reviewed your resume, and your qualifications match our guest relations manager position very well. Would you be available for an interview in Stokelle next Monday?”
Cassandra agreed right away, “Absolutely. I’ll be there on time.”